EA Shares Plummet After Battlefield V Delay Announcement
Electronic Arts shares have dropped by over 8% after announcing that Battlefield V has been delayed until November 20.
Opening the day at $120.60 per share, the announcement to delay Battlefield V by a full month saw EA’s stocks plummet by 8% down to $117.24 at it’s lowest point.
Announcing the delayed release just over a month before the original date, EA have also updated their projected earnings for the year, to make up for the shorter window of sales Battlefield V will have in 2018.
Battlefield V has been delayed by a month until November 20.The delay comes on the back of a report by invest firm Cowen Group, that suggested Battlefield V pre-orders were disappointing, and were lagging behind Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 pre-orders by a staggering 85%.
While developers DICE have said the game has been delayed to allow “final adjustments to core gameplay”, it is widely thought that EA have pushed the release date back so as to not face competition from Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption 2 and Activision’s Black Ops 4, which both release in October 2018.
Recently, it was leaked that EA may consider making the battle royal portion of Battlefield V free-to-play, and provide in-game exclusives to those who owned the full game, in an attempt to persuade players to purchase the title.
While Battlefield V now available on November 20, it’ll be interesting to see how EA’s stock price recovers before the big release.